Vacuum cleaners can use a removable dirt cup to store collected dirt, dust and other contaminates for later disposal. The dirt cup can have an attachment mechanism that selectively secures the dirt cup to the vacuum cleaner in a position to receive dirt, dust, and other contaminates. The attachment mechanism also allows the dirt cup to be selectively removed from the vacuum cleaner to be emptied.
Some known attachment mechanisms require vertical movement of the dirt cup in order to secure or remove the dirt cup relative to the vacuum cleaner. For example, such attachment mechanisms raise the dirt cup to secure it to the vacuum cleaner and lower the dirt cup to remove it from the vacuum cleaner.